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Introduction to Ramadan: Month of Holy Quran

Fasting in the month of Ramadan, like Namaaz (prayers) is a divine command. Allah says in the Holy Quran, "O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard (against evil)." (2:183)

It was reserved for Islam to formulate and perfect a form of spiritual purification for every one of its followers, notwithstanding the state of society they belonged to, and which could be performed without interfering with their normal avocations and callings in every day life.

Whatever calling or vocation he is engaged in, does not hinder a Muslim from carrying out this annual requirement of the Faith, the fast of this month of Ramadan, which incidentally, is also one of the five cardinal points of Islamic tenet.

The Muslim fast means a complete abstention from eating or drinking between daybreak and sunset. The sighting of the thin sickle of the new moon of Ramadan heralds for the Muslim the beginning of a month of glory and of spiritual elevation, when, at Allah's command, he voluntarily and of his own free will, denies himself between day-break and sunset, the blessing of food and drink, and surrenders himself up wholly to Allah, observing the same abstention throughout the whole month in his thoughts, his speech, his behavior, his every act.

For this month, for the Muslim, means the triumph of the spiritual and the pure in his nature over all the grossness and carnation, which is an inevitable component of our human make-up. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in the following words beautifully explains the actual significance of the fast: -

"One who, while fasting, does not guard his tongue from telling lies, does not refrain from doing bad deeds, is not respecting his fast and Allah does not approve of mere abstention from food". When you are keeping fast, you should not speak ill of anybody, nor should you be boisterous and noisy. If anybody speaks ill of you or tries to pick a quarrel with you return him not, but say unto him that you are fasting.

Divine Revelation: Ramadan however, has another deeper significance for the Muslim, Ramadan's greatness is manifest in the fact that Almighty Allah chose it for the revelation of His Scriptures from time to time.

Abraham [Ibrahim (A.S.)] received scriptures on the first or third of Ramadan, David [Dawood (A.S.)] on the twelfth or the eighteenth, Moses [Musa (A.S.)] on the sixth, and Jesus [Esa (A.S.)] on the twelfth or the thirteenth of Ramadan.

It was in the very month of Ramadan that the Holy Quran, the last revealed Book, started descending upon Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW). It testifies: (Ramadan is the month in which was sent down the Quran as a guide to mankind ...) (2:185)

But the Holy Quran, the divine revelation from Allah to mankind through the medium of our Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW), has remained. In every Ramadan the Muslims celebrate the spiritual significance of that divine fact the eternal abiding permanence of the Holy Quran.

During this Holy month therefore, the Muslim takes himself more assiduously to the reading of the Holy Book of Allah, the standing miracle of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the miracle which he stated would remain to testify to the authenticity of Allah's message even after he, Muhammad (S.A.W.) passed away.

Throughout this holy month, therefore, from every Muslim home is heard, during the day and night, the pleasant and beautiful cadences of Quranic recitation.

Then there is the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) saying as an incentive to renewed reading of the Holy Quran especially in this month: "A man gets the same reward by reading one verse of the Holy Quran as others do by reading the whole of the Holy Quran in other months." In this holy month of Ramadan it should be the duty of every Muslim to read the Holy Quran and thereby gain an insight into the Divine secrets. It breathes peaceful spirit to the human body. It imparts purity to the human soul and removes many a curtain hanging between man and God.

As the month of Ramadan is a specified period of purification, so the Holy Quran must carefully be studied by every devotee of Islam for self-guidance. Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth and the Holy Quran a light for the seekers of truth. It wards off the evil effect of unhealthy atmosphere, it sanctifies the cause of the fast and keeps the true believer in direct communion with Allah, and it does but speaks His own words.

Only constant experience can tell the tremendous amount of pleasure one finds in reading the Holy Quran.

"Say. Surely my prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my death are (all) for Allah, the Lord of the worlds" (Surah Al-Anaam, 6:162) - like a beacon of hope for the faithful, these heartening words occur in the Holy Quran to strengthen the hearts of the believing Muslim in the realness of their whole-hearted surrender to Allah (SWT).

What has the believing Muslim to fear after reading this clear promise by Allah of His nearness to His servants, not only throughout this life but also in the hereafter?

In the holy month of Ramadan, especially, this promise of Allah's has a particular significance for the believing Muslim who dedicates his prayers and his sacrifices (in the form of his fasts) up to Allah, the Lord of Creation.

Ramadan is the month of soul purification:

The Month of Ramadan is also the month souls are purified. The social scientists studying ethics believe that acquiring ideal sublime and ethical conscience passes through three stages:

1. Getting rid of bad habits and attitudes;
2. Acquiring new good traits and habits;
3. Strengthening and crystallizing these traits.

To Allah we shall return at two bows length or nearer. O man, strive hard towards your Lord until you meet Him.

In this respect I believe that the month of Rajab, as it was related, is the month of asking forgiveness for one's guilt's and sins, and it is also the month of the Prince of the Faithful (A.S), while in the month of Shaaban Muslims try to acquire the manners of the greatest Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and then they will strengthen them and crystallize them in the month of Ramadan. Thus the month of Ramadan is the month of generosity, and feeding all who are needed.

It has been related that if one's sins were not forgiven in the month of Ramadan, they will not be forgiven until the following month of Ramadan or until he performs Hajj pilgrimage.

Ramadhan: Month of Holy Quran

Ramadan is the (month) in which was sent down the Holy Quran, as a guide to mankind, also clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (Between right and wrong). So every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month should spend it in fasting, but if any one is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed period (Should be made up) by days later. Allah intends every facility for you; He does not want to put to difficulties. (He wants you) to complete the prescribed period, and to glorify Him in that He has guided you; and perchance ye shall be grateful. Holy Quran (Al-Baqara, 2:185)

As a result of associating this month of Ramadan to the Holy Quran, Allah (SWT) wants us to read His Book in this month. It is not merely reciting its words but trying to understand them and learn the wisdom lying in their concepts. Do they not then meditate on the Quran? And if it were from any other than Allah, they would have found in it many a discrepancy. (Surah An-Nisa, 4:82), so that it will guide us in all our affairs, whether in worship on in social and business dealings. We should learn, guided by Holy Quran, the difference between Right and falsehood, Good and evil, justice and wronging, deviation and following the straight path.

Thus, Allah (SWT) wanted this month of Ramadan to be a month of calling, through asking the people to study Holy Quran, and the scholars to educate the people on Holy Quran, since it is worthless to read Holy Quran if one is not going to appreciate and comprehend it.

And we have seen how Imam Zainul Abideen (as) has described this month of Ramadan as the month of Allah (SWT), The Most Exalted, wants man in to change himself in this month. He should study himself to learn his weak points and strong ones, and then train himself on the good, the right and justice, as opposed to evil, falsehood and wronging. Allah (SWT), The Most Exalted, wants man to stand before Him in a sound mind that embraces truth, a sound heart that beats with mercy and love and a sound body that obeys Allah's commands in what to take and leave.

It is, according to Imam Zainul Abideen (as), the month of purification from all the evil ideas Satan might suggest to man, like making his relations with others based on harming them and deviated from the straight path. Man should purify himself from the inside; the outside cleanness of the body is not what purification actually implies. The real purifications are that of the mind, heart, tongue, goals and relations, so as to stand before Allah (SWT) - when nothing does one any good except his good deeds - with a heart void of disbelief and hatred.

Imam Zainul Abideen (as) stresses too that the month of Ramadan is the month of Islam. In the month of Ramadan, all Muslims should uphold the responsibility of Islam by leaving all what Allah (SWT) has ordained, revealed or conveyed to His Holy Prophet Mohammad (saw) so that it will be a month in which man lives a spiritual and humanistic life. O you who believe! Answer (the call of) Allah and His Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life; and know that Allah intervenes between man and his heart, and that to Him you shall be gathered.

This month of Ramadan is also the month of peace, in which the Muslim should prove that Islam is the religion of peace. Allah (SWT) has made the greeting which the Muslim says to others to be: "peace on you". And the tradition has related that a greeting has 70 rewards, 69 of them are for the one who says it first. Allah (SWT) wants our greeting to others to be one of peace. They should train on this greeting in this world to move to Paradise, having been accustomed to it, because peace is the salutation of the people of Paradise. The angels also will greet the believers in Paradise with the word of peace, the gardens of perpetual abode which they will enter along with those who do good from among their parents and their spouses and their offspring; and the angels will enter in upon them from every gate: Peace unto you for that ye persevered in patience! Now how excellent is the final home!